In some of the houses, in the middle of the gable, at the top of the
facade, a crooked beam projects, fitted with a pulley and a piece of
cord to raise and lower buckets or baskets. In others, a stag's,
sheep's, or goat's head looks down from a little round window. Under
this head there is a line of whitewashed stones or a wooden beam which
cuts the facade in two. Below the beam there are two large windows,
shaded by awnings like canopies, under which hang little green
curtains, over the upper panes of the window. Under the green curtain
are two white curtains, draped back to reveal a swinging bird-cage or
a hanging basket full of flowers. Below this flower-basket screening
the lower window-panes there is a frame with a very fine wire netting,
which prevents pedestrians from looking into the rooms. Behind the
wire netting, in the divisions between the netting and the framework
of the window, there are tables ornamented with china, glass, flowers,
statuettes and other trifles. On the stone sills of windows which open
into the street there is a row of little flower-pots. In the middle or
at one side of the window-sill there is a curved iron hook which
supports two movable mirrors joined like the backs of a book,
surmounted by a third movable glass, so arranged that from within the
house one can see everything that happens in the street without one's
self being seen. In some houses a lantern projects between the
windows. Below the windows is the house-door or shop-door. If it be a
shop-door, there will be carved above it either a negro's head with
the mouth wide open or the smirking face of a Turk. Sometimes the sign
is an elephant, a goose, a horse's head, a bull, a serpent, a
half-moon, a windmill, and sometimes an outstretched arm holding some
article that is for sale in the shop. If it be a house-door--in which
case it is always kept closed--it bears a brass plate on which is
written the name of the tenant, another plate with an opening for
letters, and a third plate on the wall holding the bell-handle. The
plates, nails, and locks are all kept shining like gold. Before the
door there is frequently a little wooden bridge--for in many houses
the ground floor is made lower than the street--and in front of the
bridge are two small stone pillars surmounted by two balls; below
these stand other pillars united by iron chains made of large links in
the shape of crosses, stars, and polygons. In the space between the
street and the house are pots of flowers. On the window-seats of the
basement, hidden in the hollow, are more flowers and curtains. In the
less frequented streets there are bird-cages on either side of the
windows, boxes full of growing plants, clothes and linen hung out to
dry. Indeed, innumerable articles of varied colors dangle and swing
about, so that it all seems like a great fair.
But without quitting the old town one need only walk toward its
outskirts in order to see novel sights at every step.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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